News

National switches in the works in Tanzania, Ghana

August 1, 2012

Tanzania and Ghana are making progress toward the implementation of national switches that will allow bankcard interoperability across all bank ATMs in each country.

In a bid to check "hitches" associated with ATMs, the Bank of Tanzania will introduce a national switch that will enable customers of all banks to use any machine at any time, said an article by All Africa. The article did not give details concerning the timeline for implementation of the national switch.

Meanwhile, All Ghana News reported that banks in Ghana are completing their integration with the national switch to ensure interoperability. Archie Hesse, chief executive of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems, told All Ghana News that interoperability should become a reality this year — possibly by October.

Some of Ghana's banks have already connected to the national switch, however the service will not go online until at least 15 banks have completed their integration.

Interoperability efforts in Ghana go back a decade, said the All Ghana News story, but it took the formation of GhIPSS by the Bank of Ghana to develop a robust electronic payment system for the country.

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